WORLD> America
Sotomayor has roots in little-known Puerto Rico
By Cai Hong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-23 09:34

WASHINGTON: The stage on Capitol Hill was for Sonia Sotomayor last week.

Sotomayor has roots in little-known Puerto Rico

In the slow, deep and patient voice she had employed during hearings on her nomination to be the next US Supreme Court justice, she shone.

If she is confirmed (Republican Senator Lindsey Graham predicted on the first day that she is in unless she has a "complete meltdown), she will be the first Hispanic to serve in the highest US tribunal.

Sotomayor, 55, was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents. She has served as a federal district judge and for more than a decade now, she has sat on a federal court of appeals. Her story of success has inspired many Puerto Ricans.

The nomination and the hearings have raised the profile of the Hispanic population, especially Puerto Ricans in the American consciousness. They have also added fresh fuel to the perpetual debate for self-determination of the people in the island.

Most Americans know very little about Puerto Rico, a Caribbean island being a US possession since 1898, except for tourism commercials. Many consider Puerto Ricans living in the US outside of Puerto Rico another new immigrant group of Latinos, according to Angelo Falcn, political scientist and president of the National Institute for Latino Policy, a nonprofit think tank on issues affecting the Latino community.

Puerto Rican settlements in New Orleans can be traced to the 1860s and workers from Puerto Rico migrated to Hawaii around 1900. In 1917, through the US Congress-endorsed Jones Act Puerto Ricans were made US citizens, enabling them to come to the US freely and legally without passport or visa.

Puerto Rico was formally defined a commonwealth after a vote by its residents in 1952.

Related readings:
Sotomayor has roots in little-known Puerto Rico Sotomayor sidesteps on abortion, guns in grilling
Sotomayor has roots in little-known Puerto Rico Sotomayor pledges impartiality if confirmed
Sotomayor has roots in little-known Puerto Rico Discrimination case raises questions for Sotomayor
Sotomayor has roots in little-known Puerto Rico Sotomayor to make her Capitol Hill debut
Sotomayor has roots in little-known Puerto Rico GOP senators sidestep harsh criticism of Sotomayor
New York City is Puerto Ricans' most favorite destination where 800,000 choose to stay, accounting for 80 percent of the Puerto Rican population in the US. Other fastest-growing Puerto Rican settlements in the States are in Florida and the South.

Currently, Congress is looking at the Puerto Rico Democracy Act of 2009, a resolution that would allow the US federal government to start a process for Puerto Rico to decide on its status - whether it should remain a commonwealth, or become a state or an independent nation.

The US Supreme Court once described Puerto Rico's relationship to the US as "foreign in a domestic sense."

Currently, Puerto Ricans are US citizens who can serve in the Army, but can't vote in the presidential elections unless they live in one of the 50 states. They have a representative in Congress who can't vote.

Three years ago there was a lawsuit challenging Puerto Ricans' lack of the right to elect the US president. After a US Circuit judge ruled against it, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the case.

This means that 4 million US citizens have fewer rights than the rest of the nation.

What role could Sotomayor play if a case regarding Puerto Rico's status comes to the tribunal?

In many public speeches, Sotomayor has fondly invoked her Puerto Rican heritage - down to her love of pigs' feet and the sounds of merengue. "Our gender and national origins may and will make a difference in our judging," Sotomayor said in a 2001 speech. That mild endorsement of identity politics provoked a fuss on the right that continued through her confirmation hearings in the Senate.

The author is China Daily's Washington correspondent.